New Land Rover Discovery Sport enters final Middle East Prototype testing

September 2, 2014 3:41 pm

Premium SUV manufacturer Land Rover has offered a glimpse into the world of prototype testing and development of new vehicles in the searing summer temperatures of the UAE.

Ahead of the 3rd September 2014 launch of the new Discovery Sport, a segment-defining premium compact SUV, Land Rover has created a series of films with exclusive behind the scenes footage of the rigorous testing each vehicle endures in the extreme desert heat and humid climate conditions of the Middle East region.

The films capture the essence of the new Discovery Sport’s engineering integrity with an insight into the complexities behind the testing and development of a new vehicle before the general public even knew about its existence. The rigorous testing continues throughout Land Rover’s development of the new Discovery Sport ahead of the official global digital launch on September 3rd 2014 and will continue until the first production vehicle rolls off the manufacturing line in the UK.

Speaking about the behind the scenes test film series and the upcoming launch of the Discovery Sport, Bruce Robertson, MD of Jaguar Land Rover in MENA said; “As the new Discovery Sport enters its final testing phase, Land Rover MENA is incredibly proud to reveal the scale of endurance tests that our vehicles go through right here in the region for our MENA customers. Over the past year our global engineers, in conjunction with our Engineering Test Centre team here in Dubai, have spent thousands of man hours carrying out a comprehensive range of tests including durability, calibration and hot weather testing for heat and humidity. The team have also tested powertrains, chassis and heating and ventilation systems, as well as the off-road and sand driving capability of Land Rover’s unique Terrain Response system.”

He continued: “Our Land Rover engineering philosophy of regional vehicle testing ensures each and every Land Rover vehicle has proven durability and reliability and can withstand the high temperatures, driving conditions and desert terrain that we experience here in the Middle East.”

Land Rover’s Discovery Sport boasts a progressive new design approach which defines the new Discovery family with optimised volume, proportions and stance, making it the world’s finest premium compact SUV. Its design leadership combines with engineering integrity to result in a dynamic profile and the ultimate use of interior space with 5+2 seating configurability.

Now sold in 40 dealerships across 17 markets in MENA, Land Rover has expanded regional testing capabilities considerably to meet the needs of its growing customer base in the region; further boosted by the launch last year of an enhanced $1.5 Million state-of-the-art Engineering Test Centre for Land Rover product test engineering in the Middle East region. A Training Academy has also been developed to enable Jaguar Land Rover to replicate the in-depth training offered by its UK-based academy and will ensure the company maintains the high quality experience its customers have come to expect.

Reinforcing the Land Rover engineering philosophy, John Winchester, JLR Vehicle Engineering Operations Manager MENA, said: “Our engineering teams are committed and focused on the quality and durability of our products and an important part of this is rigorous environmental testing of our vehicles to ensure they can withstand even the harshest conditions. This region also offers the opportunity to do high ambient temperature testing where road surfaces are extremely smooth; making for some unique challenges and unparalleled testing opportunities.”

Bruce Robertson agrees, adding: “For us, it goes beyond in-market testing and training. We are actually engineering our cars for this region based on the feedback we get from our customers and I am confident we will have even more innovative products that are tailored for our MENA audience – cars that won’t just be popular, but will dominate their segments.”

While Land Rover continues to make progress in the world of testing and development, the new Discovery Sport enters its final development phase with prototype fleets completing testing globally. Having covered over 1.2 million kilometres in some of the world’s harshest and most challenging terrains and climates, a total of 181 Land Rover Discovery Sport prototype vehicles have completed over 11,000 tests around the globe ensuring total confidence in the robustness of build and design of the vehicle.

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